Evaluation of the Downtown Boston Parking Freeze An Interdisciplinary Qualifying Project Submitted by: __________________________________ Mark Allard __________________________________ Ben Armato __________________________________ Keith Barber __________________________________ Steve Couture Submitted April 30, 2001 Authorship Page Executive Summary…………………………………………Steve Couture/Ben Armato 1 Introduction................................................................................Mark Allard/Steve Couture 2 Background 2.1 The City of Boston: Physical and Economic Development.... ..............Mark Allard 2.2 Boston Transportation.......................................................................Steven Couture 2.3 Transportation and Air Pollution............................................................Ben Armato 2.4 Air Pollution Remedy in Boston...........................................................Keith Barber 3 Methodology 3.1 Domain of Inquiry and Definitions..................………....Mark Allard/Keith Barber 3.2 Study Area.............................................................................................Keith Barber 3.3 Organization and Integration of Existing Parking Data………………Keith Barber 3.4 Field Validation and Integration of Parking Facility Information.........Mark Allard 3.5 Creating a Geographical Information System.................................…..Keith Barber 3.6 Survey of Private Transportation Users……………....Keith Barber/Steve Couture 4 Results and Deliverables.....................................................................…….......Mark Allard 4.1 Deliverables 4.2 Mapping of the Freeze Area 4.3 Survey of Private Transportation Users 5 Analysis 5.1 Trends in Space Breakdown………………………………..…………Mark Allard 5.2 Air Pollution Estimation…………………………………...………Steven Couture 5.3 Development and the Parking Freeze………………………………....Mark Allard 6 Recommendations..........................................................…..........Keith Barber/Mark Allard 7 Conclusion………………………………………………………Keith Barber/Mark Allard *If two names are listed for a particular section, the first person listed is the main contributor to the section. ii Abstract The goal of this project was to evaluate the role of the Downtown Boston parking freeze in relation to both air pollution control and city development. We provided the Boston Air Pollution Control Commission with a comprehensive system for parking freeze management, merging all existing data with digital map layers of the freeze area. In the process, we analyzed the value of the freeze in terms of the city’s growth since the inception of the freeze. iii Acknowledgements We would like to thank all those individuals who helped us along with their guidance and wealth of information. First and foremost, our liaison, Mr. Bryan Glascock of the Air Pollution Control Commission, who provided us with the contacts we needed to gain all necessary materials. Special thanks to Mr. Glascock for all of his guidance and encouragement. Thanks to Ms. Antonia Pollak, director of the Environment Department, as well as the rest of the Environment Department, for allowing us to overrun the office. Thanks to Mr. Martin Von Wyss for supplying us with all digital map layers that were necessary for project completion. Thanks to Mr. David Fargen from the Central Transportation Planning Staff for supplying us with invaluable traffic volume and pollution information as well as orthographic maps of the Boston area. Thanks to Mr. Adam Schulman of the Boston Transportation Department for letting us use the full-sized map plotter and for providing additional parking information. Finally, thanks to Professors James P. Hanlan and Fabio Carrera for their guidance throughout this immense project. iv Table of Contents List of Figures ........................................................................................................................vii List of Tables ........................................................................................................................viii List of Appendices ..................................................................................................................ix 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................1-1 2 Background ..................................................................................................................2-3 2.1 The City of Boston: Physical and Economic Development.........................................2-3 2.1.1 Downtown Boston Defined..................................................................................2-4 2.1.2 Physical Development of the Boston Region.......................................................2-4 2.1.3 Planning Issues and Economic Expansion...........................................................2-6 2.2 Boston Transportation................................................................................................2-12 2.2.1 Boston’s Public Transportation..........................................................................2-12 2.2.2 The MBTA Survey.............................................................................................2-13 2.2.3 Boston’s Automobile Transportation.................................................................2-14 2.2.4 The Central Artery/Tunnel Project.....................................................................2-16 2.2.5 The Silver Line and Urban Ring Development..................................................2-18 2.3 Transportation and Air Pollution................................................................................2-20 2.3.1 Air Pollution Laws and Regulations ..................................................................2-20 2.3.2 Air Pollution.......................................................................................................2-21 2.4 Air Pollution in Boston ..............................................................................................2-24 2.4.1 Environment Department...................................................................................2-24 2.4.2 Air Pollution Control Commission ....................................................................2-26 2.4.3 The Boston Parking Freeze ................................................................................2-27 2.4.4 Past Studies on the Parking Freeze ....................................................................2-29 3 Methodology ..............................................................................................................3-31 3.1 Domain of Inquiry and Definitions ............................................................................3-31 3.2 Study Area..................................................................................................................3-33 3.3 Organization and Integration of Existing Parking Facility Data................................3-33 3.4 Field Validation and Integration of Parking Facility Information .............................3-35 3.5 Creating a Geographical Information System............................................................3-37 3.5.1 Database Information .........................................................................................3-39 3.6 Survey of Private Transportation Users .....................................................................3-40 4 Results and Deliverables ............................................................................................4-42 4.1 Deliverables................................................................................................................4-42 4.2 Mapping of the Freeze Area.......................................................................................4-43 4.3 Survey of Private Transportation Users .....................................................................4-46 5 Analysis......................................................................................................................5-47 5.1 Trends in Space Breakdown.......................................................................................5-47 5.2 Air Pollution Estimation.............................................................................................5-50 5.3 Development and the Parking Freeze.........................................................................5-55 v 6 Recommendations ......................................................................................................6-58 6.1 General Recommendations ........................................................................................6-58 6.2 Freeze-Specific Recommendations............................................................................6-59 7 Conclusion..................................................................................................................7-61 8 Bibliography...............................................................................................................8-62 vi List of Figures FIGURE 1: BOSTON BY NEIGHBORHOOD ........................................................................................2-4 FIGURE 2: ORIGINAL PENINSULA AND BOSTON NOW.....................................................................2-5 FIGURE 3: EDWARD LOGUE, AT THE CONSTRUCTION SITE OF THE NEW CITY HALL ......................2-9 FIGURE 4: GOVERNMENT CENTER...............................................................................................2-10 FIGURE 5: BOSTON